Harmeet K. Dhillon

Dhillon’s political views led her in 2018 to found the nonprofit Center for American Liberty to champion conservative causes.

“During the shutdown we were extremely active, both on behalf of the nonprofit and otherwise,” she said of the numerous Covid-related cases she filed over religious and educational restrictions.

The action has shifted to vaccine mandates. “I’m the help desk for people with vaccination issues. The first thing I tell them is that I am vaccinated myself. I’m not going to argue with my doctor. Next I tell them that I have thoroughly researched this, and the law is not favorable at this time.”

Still, the law has evolved regarding government emergency orders during the pandemic. And Dhillon has been a leader in pushing back. She filed the first Covid-related challenge to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive orders restricting religious gatherings, followed by two similar cases.

At first, all failed. “It was the longest losing streak of my career,” Dhillon said. Then the U.S. Supreme Court turned the tide by blocking the adverse outcomes pending full hearings. In Gish v. Newsom, 20A120, the justices vacated lower court rulings and granted injunctive relief. Likewise, in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 20A136, the high court halted enforcement of a ban on indoor worship services. And in Tandon v. Newsom, 20A151, California was enjoined from enforcing a similar Covid restrictions.

“Tandon has been read by various legal scholars as potentially flagging a sea change in the court’s thinking about the Smith test from 1990 which afforded second-class status to religious liberty in the bundle of First Amendment rights,” Dhillon said in an email.

Her attack on the state’s in-person schooling ban lost on summary judgment at the district court. But in July a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in part reversed, ruling 2-1 that while public school closures did not violate due process, the state’s forced closure of private schools abridged the fundamental liberty of parents to control their children’s education. Brach v. Newsom, 20-56291 (9th Cir., op. filed July 23, 2021).

“This was a big win for the rights of parents,” Dhillon said, “and we are considering further appeals. This is viewed by commentators as a serious setback for the state because the court expressly ruled that our challenges were not moot, given the likelihood of repetition. This part of the ruling will have wide repercussions for the current and future emergency orders.”

--John Roemer